Blog Posts By God's Politics Editor

Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.  - Proverbs 31:9 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

Joy is the echo of God's life in us. - Columba of Iona + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

Show me the suffering of the most miserable, so I will know my people's plight. Free me to pray for others, for you are present in every person. Help me take responsibility for my own life, so that I can be free at last. Grant me courage to serve others, for in service there is true life. Give me honesty and patience, so that the Spirit will be alive among us. Let the Spirit flourish and grow, so that we will never tire of the struggle. Let us remember those who have died for justice, for they have given us life. Help us love even those who hate us, so we can change the world. Amen. -A prayer by Cesar Chavez

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  - Romans 15:13 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

Every particle of Christ's divine charity is today more precious for your security — for your security, I say — than all the atom bombs in all the stockpiles. - Georges Bernarnos + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

Lord, help us to see that our well-being is inextricably bound to the well-being of our neighbor. Our sorrows are shared. Our longings are shared. Our fears are shared. Enable us also to share compassion, patience and courage today. Amen. -From Common Prayer

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:19-20 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, died suddenly this morning at the age of 69. In a news release announcing his passing, Common Cause Board Chair Robert Reich, said, “We are deeply saddened and shaken today by the passing of Bob Edgar. Bob will be remembered for his decency, kindness, compassion and humor.”Bob was general secretary of the National Council of Churches from 2000 to 2007. During those years, Sojourners worked with him in anti-poverty efforts, and in attempting to prevent the beginning of the war in Iraq. He was an ordained United Methodist minister, and also served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.Please keep his wife Merle, and sons Andrew, David and Rob, and their families, in your prayers.

With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. - Acts 4:33-35 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

 We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. - Native American Proverb + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

Lord, we pray that today, on Earth day, you would remind us of the beauty and majesty of the universe you have created, specifically the earth we live on. Forgive us for the ways in which we have damaged it and change our minds and hearts so that we may take better care of the Earth you have made for us, previous, and subsequent generations. Amen.

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. - John 8:7-9 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

Boston residents are waking up this morning to a virtual shutdown of many parts of the city after a contfrontation that left one of the marathon suspects dead, according to reports. An M.I.T. police officer was also killed. From NBC News: Law enforcement officials said the tumult began just before 11 p.m., when the suspects approached a police officer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and shot him in the head.The two then stole the officer’s cruiser, robbed a nearby 7-Eleven, carjacked a Mercedes SUV and briefly kidnapped the driver, the sources said. The suspects threw explosives out the window during the chase that followed, they said. A Boston transit police officer was shot and wounded, authorities said.The dead suspect — the man in the black hat from the FBI photos — had an improvised explosive device strapped to his chest, law enforcement officials said.The two suspects have been identified as brothers — the one on the run identified as 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. This story is developing. Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. - John 5:30 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

A fertilizer plant exploded Wednesday evening, killing at least five and injuring more than 100, according to CNN. From the report: "Nothing at this point indicates we have had criminal activity, but we are not ruling that out," said Sgt. William Patrick Swanton of the nearby Waco Police Department.A more immediate question is how high the death toll will rise.It could be between five and 15, Swanton said. Dr. George Smith, the city's emergency management system director, said it could spike to 60 or 70."We have two EMS personnel that are dead for sure, and there may be three firefighters that are dead," Smith said.

The only way to make rapid progress along the path of divine love is to remain very little and put all our trust in Almight God. - Saint Therese of Lisieux + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

This marathon tragedy drives us again to our Maranatha cry — "Come quickly, Lord" — and set things right. In the meantime, may we live as agents of your Kingdom — showing and sharing the love of Jesus to a broken and lost world. Running toward the blast, toward the suffering in order to help, instead of away from it—like the first responders did in the incredible video of bomb blast at the finish line. A Prayer by Ed Stetzer

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. - John 1:5 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

The outcome or the fruit of reading Holy Scripture is by no means negligible: it is the fullnes of eternal happiness. These are the books which tell us of eternal life, which were written, not only that we might believe, but also that we might have everlasting life. The purpose of the Scriptures, which come to us from God, is to lead us to the fullness of the truth. In order to achieve this, we must study holy Scripture carefully, and teach it and listen to it in the same way. - Bonaventure + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

Lord, we long to be your people in this world where other powers claim our allegiance. You have stamped your image on us. Guide us by your light that we might see clearly who we are and what it means to give ourselves to you. Amen. -From Common Prayer

Then a kingdom of love will be set up, and someone from David's family will rule with fairness. He will do what is right and quickly bring justice. - Isaiah 16:5 + Sign up to receive our social justice verse of the day via e-mail

I do not tire of telling everyone, especially young people who long for their people's liberation, that I admire their social and political sensitivity, but it saddens me when they waste it by going on ways that are false. Let us, too, all take notice that the great leader of our liberation is the Lord's Anointed One, who comes to announce good news to the poor, to give freedom to the captives, to give news of the missing, to give joy to so many homes in mourning, so that society may be renewed as in the sabbatical years of Israel. - Archbishop Oscar Romero + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail

Transform our desires to mirror yours, Lord. Bind us to you and to one another in vows of peace, in obedience to your word, and in the love of the Holy Spirit, which binds you to the Father, one God both now and forever. Amen.

The resurrection of Jesus was simply God's unwillingness to take our 'no' for an answer. He raised Jesus, not as an invitation to us to come to heaven when we die, but as a declaration that he himself has now established permanent, eternal residence here on earth. He is standing beside us, strengthening us in this life. The good news of the resurrection of Jesus is not that we shall die and go home to be with him, but that he has risen and comes home with us, bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick prisoner brothers with him. - Clarence Jordan + Sign up to receive our quote of the day via e-mail